Gliding on Thin Ice
by Radical.2
Summary: James asks Lily to meet him by the lake at midnight, but she has convinced herself that there is no way she is going. And then she does, of course. It doesn't go exactly as planned...
1. A Mysterious Stranger

As Lily reached for another helping of mashed potatoes, a girl farther down the table yelled, "The mail's here!" in this tone like she was expecting a million galleons from her parents. Naturally, the majority of students at Hogwarts jumped out of their seats, awaiting to recieve their mail.

With muggle parents who didn't use owls to send mail, Lily rarely got any, unless it was from a professor or a friend from another house. She continued spooning mashed potatoes onto her plate, a bit irritated.

What was so great about mail anyway? It was mail. Wow. Great. Not.

So you can understand why when a letter gracefully drifted into her lap, she didn't think it was hers until she saw her name, Lily Evans, written on it.

She hid it under the table, not entirely sure why she was doing so. She just had a feeling that she didn't want anyone to read it.

Noting that the Gryffindor seal closed the envelope, she carefully opened the mysterious letter.

Dear Red,  
Meet me by the lake at midnight.  
Please?  
Love, a mysterious stranger that you don't know.

Gosh, she had no idea what that was from. Did James seriously think she would come

She glanced out the corner of her eye, but James was too occupied with a letter he was reading.

Was it him?

Of course it was, she told herself. Who else calls you Red? And says please when asking her out? And referred to himself like he was Merlin? No one.

And besides, she couldn't wander around after curfew, she had to be head girl next year!

Not that she was thinking of going, of course. James Potter was the most ridiculous, snobby, irritating male she'd ever met.

She was not going, and that was the end of that.

Most Likely.  



	2. Brightened Stars

"Lily!" Alice exclaimed, shaking her out of sleep. "Lily!"

Foggy eyed and dead tired, Lily muttered, "What time is it?"

"Almost midnight. Wake up!" Alice said forcefully, and added, "Aguamenti!"

Water splurted out from the end of her wand, hitting Lily directly in the face. "What are you doing?" she spluttered when the water stopped.

"Did you think that I wouldn't find this?" Alice waved The Envelope in her face. "You have got to go!"

"Alice, it's just James and another one of his attempts to get me to go out with him."

"Why don't you?"

"Because he's ignorant, irritating, has an ego bigger than the castle, always fooling around.." Lily's voice dropped to a barely audible murmur, still listing reasons not to go out with him.

"If you don't go I'll steal Hogwarts: A History from your trunk and burn it, page by page." Lily turned deathly pale at this revelation. "You okay? So, what were you thinking of wearing?"

Lily realized she was still in her nightgown. "Er, I don't know!" she exclaimed.

"Shhhh! Other people are sleeping, Lily," Alice warned. "Hmmm, how's this?" she held up a sparkly pink dress.

"Absolutely not," Lily said flatly, "Can't I just wear jeans and a sweater?"

"I'm picking the sweater," Alice said quickly.

"Wait," Lily said, "What am I doing? It's midnight, I can't go to the lake! I have to be head-"

"Stupefy," Alice said, and Lily's head hit her pillow again. "Good grief, she can be annoying."

After transfiguring Lily's clothes into a more appropriate jeans, fur-lined boots, and scarlet sweater, she woke Lily up again by shaking her excessively.

"Did you just- Alice!" exclaimed Lily.

"And now it's time to go," Alice said, pushing Lily out the door.

She cautiously climbed out the window of the Gryffindor common room, wincing when her boots crunched in the snow.

How would she get to the lake without waking half the castle?

"Lily!" called a voice that sounded very far away. With a pained look on her face, she looked up.

"No, no way. I am not going to fly on that thing," she said, "No way."

"That thing that you're refusing to ride is the best broom of our generation," said a voice behind her. "The Icebolt," James announced in a low, announcer-type voice.

Lily spun around to see him hovering a few feet above the ground, scooting over to make space for her. "Hop on," he said.

Why not, she thought. There was no point in arguing, and she was already outside. It's not like he's going to let you fall off, and if he did, he would catch you. Right?

He lowered the broom and she slowly got on, holding the end of the broom tightly, feeling like she'd fall off any second.

James rolled his eyes and took her hands in his own, placing them around her waist. "You don't want to fall off, do you? Hold on tight!" he grinned.

She squeezed her eyes shut, clinging to James. So she wouldn't fall off, of course. She had to consider safety and health in matters like this, she told herself.

A little voice in the back of her head informed her that she was a terrible liar. She tried to ignore it, but she knew it was partly right.

"Don't the stars look brighter from up here?" he asked.

Lily opened her eyes, and gasped. They were so high that the castle looked like a muggle toy set, she thought. The stars looked close enough to touch and brighter than the midday sun.

"They're beautiful," she murmured, unable to tear her eyes from the sky.

And then she felt like her heart had dropped into her feet.


	3. Scary Stories From Above

Lily hugged James so tightly that he almost couldn't breathe, and he gasped for air at their high altitude on the Icebolt.

"Really, Red, it's just a corkscrew, nothing to be afraid of," he said facetiously, "Just don't fall."

She looked down, immediately taking in a sharp breath. "Isn't there a law or something that says you can't go this high? I can hardly see Hogwarts!"

James grinned, "We passed that law a couple thousand feet ago."

"James!" Lily chastised.

"Red!" he shot back.

"If you call me that again I'll push you off this broom," she said.

"Then who would fly it?" he retorted.

"Me."

"And you would save yourself how?"

"Save myself from what?"

"The ground. The ice. The Whomping Willow. Maybe even the giant squid."

Lily's eyebrows rose, "Giant squid? What are you, four? Do you really believe that?"

"Of course," James responded honestly, "Haven't you ever heard The Legend of the Giant Squid?"

"No... what is it?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to know.

"Once, long ago," he started in a chilling tone, "there was a boy named Jim. Jim met a girl named Lilah and asked to meet her by the lake. So they went on a broom there, and that's when they saw-"

"Are you kidding me?" Lily questioned.

"What?" he let out a mocking gasp.

"That sounds oddly familiar, doesn't it?"

"No, not really."

"James," she groaned, unconsciously shoving him like she would've if they'd been standing on solid ground.

The Icebolt lurched into a deep dive, and if James hadn't swerved they would've hit an extremely tall tree.

"What were you thinking?" he demanded. "You don't actually push someone off a broom!"

Lily turned pale and pointed at the lake. "Is that-?" Her unfinished sentence chilled the air as she blacked out and fainted.

"Lily!" cried James. He pointed the broom downwards, going at deathly speeds. He managed to grab her hand, but they were falling, and if he didn't save them soon they would hit the lake...  



	4. Blacked Out

James gripped Lily's hand like he would lose his own life if he let go of it.

The icy surface of the lake came closer and closer.

Somehow he managed to pull her up onto the broom, and he knew at that moment that he would die.

He pressed his lips against hers, then waited.

They were still falling.

Weren't they going to die yet?

What he saw next was so flabberghasting that he almost fainted himself. He let go of Lily, not even seeing her fall.

The ice had broken with a huge crack, and guess what was swimming towards them?

The Giant Squid!

He was dead, he thought. Some karma thing is making fun of my last conversation with her, or maybe...

Was he alive?

James saw her eyes flutter open just as she was about to hit the ice, and he could've sworn that she had said his name.

He looped the Icebolt around and rode it towards Lily so fast that tears formed in his eyes.

He didn't care.

Her body hit the ice with a deathly thud, and the ice broke beneath her.

He jumped off his broom and ran across the ice as she started to sink.

She's dead.

What if I die too?

It doesn't matter, he thought.

His steps didn't slow, and he fell midstep into the water.

He couldn't remember his own name.

His mind didn't even register the fact that he shouldn't be alive.

Her red hair fanned around her as she gracefully floated downwards...

"Lily!" he screamed, but he was underwater, and it came out as bubbles.

His vision was ringed in black, but not once did saving himself come to mind.

And then his entire vision turned black, but not before he felt a slimy hand wrap around his arm.

"Save her!" he tried to yell, and then he blacked out.

* * *

**A/N- What so you think should happen next? Please review!**


	5. Snow White From the Black Lake

James woke up bleary eyed.

His glasses. Where were they?

"Remus? Where're my glasses? Sirius?" he asked.

He was sitting outside somewhere, on wet grass, near the edge of the lake.

The sky was still dark, and the stars looked just a little duller than they had last night...

The squid! he remembered. Lily!

He looked around him, where was Lily?

"Lily?" he called desperately.

Silence.

"Accio Lily?" he attempted.

He wasn't much good at that spell anyhow.

This would be a good reason to pay attention in future classes.

Why was he even thinking this?

He just had to find her.

A horrific thought struck him.

What if she hadn't been saved?

What if she was still there, at the bottom of the Black Lake?

What if the Giant Squid hadn't saved her?

If he hadn't then James was going squid-hunting.

He could imagine telling Remus and Sirius, "We're having squid tonight, boys!"

Find Lily, he reminded himself.

So he did the first thing that came to mind:

James jumped in the lake and shouted, "Mr. Squid! Mr. Squid?"

Imagine if someone saw him now.

They'd laugh to death.

Death...find Lily.

"MR. SQUID!" he screamed again.

Mr. Squid's going to find her. He's going to find her and she'll think of you as her hero.

Who got her into this in the first place.

Just then, the squid popped up from the water.

"Mr. Squid! You have to save Lily! Did you? She has red hair and pretty green eyes and..."

The squid was gesturing wildly, pointing his tentacles at an island in the lake.

When had that gotten there?

James started to swim across, but the Giant Squid ended up dragging him through the water and plopping him on the small island.

There she was.

She lay on the beach, covered in water and sand.

Her eyes were closed.

"Ummm..."

Who can do spells when they're nervous? It was impossible!

He had a whole new level of respect for Aurors.

Oh!

It was like that story she had told him, Snow White!

He just had to snog her and she'd come back to life!

Hopefully.

"Okay, so...Snow White. How do we do this? The cheek? No, that won't work. The lips? Way better," he thought aloud.

He leaned in, and his lips were an inch from hers when...

She said calmly, "Touch me and you die."

"Mr. Squid would save me."

"I have my wand."

"So do I."

"I could just strangle you."

"Or drown me," he added.

With every comment they leaned closer until they were about to kiss.

"Thanks for saving me. Well saving-ish," she whispered.

And then she gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"So...Does this mean you'll go out with me?" he asked.

"Maybe, if you ask nicely."

"I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me, sometime."

She pursed her lips.

"No? Hey, Evans! You. Me. Hogsmeade. How about it?"

She glared at him.

He gave her a stiff bow, took her hand and asked, "Would you go out with me?"

"Too Durmstrang."

"You're insane! How would you like me to, then."

"Just watch."

She grabbed his hand and walked slowly with him to the water.

And pushed him in.

She jumped in afterwards.

Mr. Squid dragged them back to land, and that was when Lily asked pleasantly, "James? Want to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"

"Of course! Errr, yes. If I don't die first," he amended.

"Great."


End file.
